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The main objective of this paper is to find the optimal positioning of a cargo load in a given van, using simulations implemented in CarMaker. The chosen cargo weight is 1000 kg (close to the limit of the chosen van, 1350 kg), and the factors that are used as input are: the type of driver (aggressive, defensive and normal – for each type of driver the longitudinal acceleration and decelerations vary and also the maximum velocity and lateral), the road that was kept the same and was built so that the driver has to follow several curves left and then to the right with decreasing curve radius, the manoeuvres are set as a maximum speed on the given road (100 km/h, adapted by the driver so that the van stays on the road), and the tires were kept the same. The 1-ton load was placed in the van in 9 points on two planes with different heights and all the simulations were compared to the unloaded van. Also, an 80-kg driver was input. The results that were exported from all the simulations were: the total damp force of all the wheels, the yaw angle, the pitch angle, the roll angle, the yaw rate (measured in degrees/second), the pitch rate and the roll rate all correlated to the velocity of the vehicle. CarMaker offers a lot of output information regarding the vehicle behaviour due to the complexity of the equations behind the software. Another advantage is the coupling possibility with AVL InMotion so that the virtual engine is replaced with the real engine coupled to the DynoRoad dynamometer in the Testing and Homologation Laboratory of the Automotive Engineering and Transport Department (Technical University of Cluj-Napoca). To ensure the uniformity of the forces that occur while driving on a road with curves, in all the elements of the suspension system, the load must be placed in the centre area of the van. However, the idea of the simulations was the lack of side doors of some vans that require an un-cantered placement of the cargo.

CarMaker; Simulation; Van loading